Moreover, since old age is still a long way off, s/he still has the enthusiasm, energy and healthy body needed to use his/her material and spiritual acquisitions. It is for this reason that entrepreneurship gurus suggest that this age is the golden period of life for entrepreneurship. They argue that if it can be put to use properly, this period may serve as a time when a person can make great progress.Societies are like people. They, too, are born, grow and become old. This approach holds true not only for a country or a civilization, but also for a society in demographic terms. Thus, we can safely argue that the most suitable period for a society that has solved its vital infrastructure problems, such as education, health and income distribution, to make great progresses is when the average age of its members is between 30 and 45. In this regard, a society of individuals with an average age of 30 can be said to have a great opportunity in the future, if it does not miss this historic opportunity, which a society will probably have only once throughout its lifespan. Also, one should never forget the fact that this historic opportunity may turn into a great blessing by ensuring that the country in question can take great strides, but at the same time, it may become a gigantic burden for the society in question as a result of a lack of skills or preparation to benefit from it.
As you all know, the 2009-2010 academic year started on Sept. 24. About 15 million students flocked to schools. More than 650,000 teachers will strive to provide education to these students. Taking into account the fact that some countries have a population lower than the number of teachers in Turkey, we can better understand how the 15 million students who will be trained by these teachers may turn out to be a great blessing for the future of the country and at the same time a great burden for today. While the business of educating millions of students may currently appear somewhat burdensome, whether it will turn out to be a blessing or a burden in the future is dependent on our approaches as well as the approaches adopted by the governments we elect to office.
To further clarify this issue, I would like to present several figures. There are 1,204 kindergartens and about 40,000 kindergarten classrooms located within primary schools. About 800,000 children receive preschool education. This year, 1,307,000 students have enrolled in the primary school system for the first time. Some 10,428,000 students attend 32,662 primary schools in Turkey, and 428,000 teachers work at these schools. A total of 2,272,000 students attend 4,053 high schools, and 1,565,000 students attend 4,622 vocational or technical high schools.
Given the fact that 28.3 is the average age in Turkey, which had a population of 70,586,000 as of the end of 2007, these figures become more meaningful. Turkey is on the verge of entering a period that may demographically be described as the time of the "golden generation." In other words, the "golden generation" that will make sure that Turkey makes those great strides in the future is today attending school. Whether this generation will turn out to be a great blessing or a burden is closely related to the quality of the education that we provide to them.
The good thing is that the existing government is aware of the importance of education as it has sponsored the construction of new schools and provides financial assistance to poor students and supplies textbooks free of charge. The other good news is that the budget allocated to education surpassed the budget allocated to defense for the first time under the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party). As you will remember, the Defense Ministry's budget came in second after the budget allocated to the Education Ministry for the first time in 2003. Of course, this does not mean that the funding assigned to education is sufficient or that what is being done is enough. While Denmark allocated 8.5 percent of its national income to education, Sweden 7.3 percent and Poland 5.6 percent, Turkey allots only 3.7 percent to education. In another comparison, Japan spends $950 per capita, Germany $817, Italy $523 and Greece $240, while Turkey spends only $100 per year.
From a purely demographic perspective, Turkey stands before a historic crossroads for its future. While it is moving toward the emergence of a generation of opportunity with an average age of 28.3 years and 15 million students, Turkey is facing a major turning point with its decreasing rate of population growth (1.3 percent) and increasing rate of unemployment (14.8 percent). It is our and the government's responsibility to do whatever must be done in order to avoid ruining this coming "golden generation."
